The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connector assemblies for high speed optical and electrical communication systems.
It is known to provide a metal cage with a plurality of ports, whereby transceiver modules are pluggable therein. Several pluggable module designs and standards have been introduced in which a pluggable module plugs into a receptacle which is electronically connected to a host circuit board. For example, a well-known type of transceiver developed by an industry consortium is known as a gigabit interface converter (GBIC) or serial optical converter (SOC) and provides an interface between a computer and a data communication network such as Ethernet or a fiber network. These standards offer a generally robust design which has been well received in industry.
It is desirable to increase the operating frequency of the network connections. Electrical connector systems that are used at increased operating speeds present a number of design problems, particularly in applications in which data transmission rates are high, for example, in the range above 10 Gbps (Gigabits/second). One concern with such systems is reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI) emissions. Another concern is reducing operating temperatures of the transceivers.
In conventional designs, thermal cooling is achieved by using a heat sink and/or airflow over the outside of the shielding metal cage surrounding the receptacles. However, the thermal cooling provided by conventional designs is proving to be inadequate, particularly for the pluggable modules in the lower port, which tend to have less cage wall surface area exposed to airflow for cooling. Some cage designs allow airflow within the metal cage; however the various components within the cage, such as the receptacle connector, block or restrict airflow.
A need remains for an electrical connector assembly having improved thermal cooling compared to known assemblies.